Nothing new under the sun

On any given day, there are ample opportunities to discover something that suggests a complete cultural collapse.

Let’s consider three such examples.

First, Braden Peters aka Clavicular. Mr Clavicular is a Looksmaxxer who believes the height of male achievement is to be the most lantern-jawed, symmetrical, and white you can be. He’s achieved social media fame by, among other things, standing next to men to compare looks and having a weird obsession with actor Matt Bomer. It’s either mildly dystopian or the most elaborate way to come out of the closet in history.

In other ‘men are doing what now’ news, some male Zoomers have responded to the girl dinner phenomenon with ‘Boy Kibble’, a dry, joyless bowl of ground beef and ingredients that favour nutrient density over flavour. Rather than a wish to experience life in prison or on the frontlines of a war, this is apparently an attempt to reduce body fat and retain muscle mass.

And finally, in this mini tour of WTF, to China. There, many are turning to AI companion pets as an alternative to not only real animals, but to human relationships and even children. The market for such devices is growing so rapidly, it will be worth $1.4 billion by 2030.

It’s easy to gawp at such trends, wondering incredulously whether any or all of them are harbingers of societal end times. 

But context is important. Are AI pets anything more than tamagochis, reimagined with updated technology? Is looksmaxxing just 1990s health and fitness mags, taken to extremes by an algorithm? Is boy kibble just a catchy title for what most uni students have eaten for generations?

Even the title of this section is taken from a book that is thousands of years old (Ecclesiastes 1:9 in the Bible, to be precise).

Instead, it may simply be the case that these fringe ideas drive clicks, and so are easier for everyone to find. People have always been weird. It’s just more evident now.